Makoto Hirahara's Bright Blinds are not what you would expect. At first glance, they look like an ordinary pair of blinds, but upon further inspection you'd be surprised to find out that there's actually no window behind them. So what do these blinds do if they don't block out sunlight?

Hirahara's Bright Blinds actually serve a lamp-like function. They are made of electroluminescent (EL) sheets, which means that you can control the amount of light the blinds produce by turning the plastic stick, just like real blinds.

Bright Blinds are available here, but it may take a little while to be shipped because they are all handmade.

"The world of hip hop and fine art collide tonight as artist Justin BUA and DMC (of Run DMC) host a panel discussion to talk about BUA's new book, "The Legends of Hip Hop." Taking place on Monday, December 12 at 7pm, the event is free to attend and all ages are welcome. After the discussion, DMC will even perform!

BUA painted fifty key figures, including everyone from Grandmaster Flash to Jay-Z, providing a portrait of each legend in a style reminiscent of the great masters. "This has never been done before. This is a comprehensive, visual, articulate representation of the legends of this culture..Historically, painters have always painted important people of their time, whether it was the popes, kings, [people of nobility], and that's what I'm doing now. These are the people who dictate culture whether it's the way we think, talk, act or vote. So this is really a compilation of those important people of the 21st century."

Here are some preview images from the book which were sent to us by the artist.

4.1.12

Glass screen acts as a lens, redirecting light from in front of the screen to a side watching camera. This enables the display to detect touch and movement a few centimetres above the surface.

Able to see, the screen reproduces the sticky note which as held up to the display.

The paper note becomes a digital object in the computer.

Another interesting thing they are working on is multiple head (and eye) tracking. Rather than an image on a surface the they are using the screen as a lens to project video to the position of your eye, tracked in 3D space. The projected video is specific to the angle and distance of each eye for each head, making the 3D experience relative to the position of each viewer.